News: Chronic pain highly associated with depression and anxiety, meta-analysis shows

Instances of depression and anxiety were found to be “significantly higher” in patients with chronic pain than those without, according to a new study cited in Medscape.

The study, titled “Prevalence of depression and anxiety among adults with chronic pain: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” examined 376 studies containing 347,468 patients, all of whom possessed some form of chronic pain. The study also extended across 50 countries.

In their meta-analysis, the researchers found that 39.3% and 40.2% of those 347,468 patients were diagnosed with depression and anxiety, respectively. Additionally, the authors found that certain types of chronic pain were “more strongly associated with depression and anxiety than others.”

“The surprising finding is the significant distribution of prevalence in different pain conditions—people with certain types of pain are more vulnerable to depression and anxiety, which is important from a clinical perspective,” lead investigator Rachel Aaron, PhD, told Medscape.

According to the study, the mean age of those examined was 51.3 years, and 70% of the cohort was female.

“The co-occurrence of chronic pain with depression and anxiety,” the researchers concluded, “is a significant public health concern necessitating routine screening in clinical settings, equitable access to specialty care, and innovative treatment development.”

Editor’s note: To read the Medscape article, click here. To read the JAMA Network Open article, click here.